Like Someone In Love
by lovejag
Summary: Stella is worried about Mac's new demeanor around her, can she figure out why? SMACKED, of course.
1. Chapter 1

"Like Someone in Love: Gathering Evidence" 1/3

By Rita Widmer

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: NY so sue me. ;)

Summary: Stella is worried about Mac's new demeanor around her. It's a mystery that only she can solve.

Author's Note: I heard this song on the radio, and I thought how fun it would be if Mac or Stella started acting oddly, because they discovered he/she is falling in love. This is the result. Thanks again to all those that reviewed my last story.

Enjoy and review please!

MSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMS

Stella Bonasera got out of the Avalanche, and met up with Mac in front of the vehicle. She gave him an encouraging smile as they headed off to the crime scene, when the most shocking thing happened, Mac tripped on the curb.

If it hadn't been her strong grip on his arm, he would have fallen on his face. She tried to keep a straight face at the look on his astonished face. He shook his head, and gave her a small smile as he continued on.

Stella reached out to the tape to move it so she could get under, but for the second time within a minute she was to be shocked by Mac. Instead of going under like usual, he tried walking right through with no success.

She grinned at him as he was pushed backwards by the tape. "Mac, are you all right?" she asked him.

"Yes," he barely kept from hissing the word.

She shrugged it off, and looked at Don who seemed to be just as shocked as her. Deep down, she knew, Don barely suppressed a comment on his entrance.

"What do you have for us?" asked Stella, figuring getting back to the case would ease the tension.

"A boy for you and a girl for Mac," answered Don.

"I didn't realize this was going to be a double date. I would have worn something nicer."

"You're looking good enough for them, but your partner there could use some work."

That got us a glare from said partner, and she got to work on the boy in front of her.

MSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMS

The rest of the crime scene investigation went well, and Mac and I headed back to the lab. I went straight to the trace lab, while Mac checked on the autopsies.

The two of us worked on separate parts of the case for awhile, but finally we got a hit on a drug found in the boy's system. I went to find Mac, and found him in his office staring out the windows at the stars.

I called his name a few times with no luck, so I headed around his desk and touched his shoulder.

He jerked around, and knocked over his chair, and for the third time today, I saw Mac discombobulated.

"What do you want?" asked Mac with a slight hint of anger. Then before I could say anything, he added, "I'm sorry, did you find something?"

"Adam just handed over the test results. Nothing seems to be adding up in this case. No one seems to know where they were before their bodies were found. Flack was able to identify the boy as Michael Richards, and we're heading to his home to check it out."

"Let me know what you find. They didn't just fall from the sky and land there."

"We'll figure it out." She touched his arm lightly before turning to head out the door. She turned around to look at him when she heard him call her name.

"Thanks for everything, Stel." She somehow knew it had nothing to do with her case work, but something else that she couldn't quite place and honestly, she was afraid.

"Is anything wrong?"

"No, I'm fine. It's just been a long day."

MSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMS

Stella sighed as Flack and her discovered what happened to their young couple. No crime was committed against them. Sadly there families had decided to try to keep them apart, and drove them to try to kill themselves, but in their last moments they realized they had wanted to live and ran for help at the nearest place, but before they could find help they had passed out and died.

The old story of Romeo and Juliet once again told in modern times, and Stella was never a fan of the story. No matter what happened in her love life, she wanted to believe love would conquer all.

She took out her cell phone to call Mac with the news.

"Taylor."

"Hey, Flack and I solved the case. It was an accident. I was thinking of stopping at the coffee shop, would you like to meet me there? I'll explain what happened to you then."

"Sorry, I'm, uh, busy with paperwork. Go home and get some rest. You can report to me in the morning."

She could hear the hesitation in his voice as he made his excuses, and she had to find out why. Deciding to appear to agree, she hung up the phone, and headed to the shop and bought two coffees.

Once she was back at the lab, she headed straight to Mac's office with a smile on her face. Looking through the glass, she acknowledged he wasn't completely lying about the paperwork he needed to do. He looked like he was buried within it.

His head was lowered into the piles, and he missed her entrance. She set down the cups of coffee, and bent over the piles so her face was only inches from her. Luckily for her, her reflexes were quick, because a mere second later his head popped up and barely missed hitting her.

He groaned at the action, and sent a glare her way.

"I come bearing gifts, a cup of coffee for the hard-working boss, and the pleasure of my company." Stella handed him a coffee cup.

"Thanks, I needed this, but didn't I send you home?"

"Yes, and I admit to breaking a direct order, boss. I guess I haven't had enough pleasure of your company today, and had to come back to visit."

If today wasn't already filled with surprises this one may have shocked her. Something about what she said caught him off-guard while drinking his coffee, and he ended up spilling it down his chin.

Handing over a tissue, she did her best to hide her grin at his dumbfounded look. This was not the Mac we all know and love.

Standing up, she realized she better leave him to the paperwork before there was anymore accidents. "I'm going to take your advice now, and go home to bed. Don't stay up too late! Good night."

There was only a blank stare from her partner, and Stella couldn't read what was going on behind those eyes. She decided sleeping on it would be a good idea.

TBC…

AN 2: Anyone else going "Poor Mac?" I know, I know I'm being cruel, but stick with it and he will get his just reward for all his troubles.

Since this story is completely written that means you the readers can choose how fast you get the next part. The quicker the reviews, the quicker the next part will come. I'm thinking of a goal about 8. I know you guys can do it.


	2. Chapter 2

"Like Someone in Love: Examining Evidence" 2/3

By Rita Widmer

AN: You guys did it! Here's the next part, and shall we try for 8 again? Pretty please!

MSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMS

Stella woke up the next morning feeling excited to get to work. The night away from Mac had provided her with some solutions to his problems, and the number one on her list was that he was in love.

Of course there could be one problem to that solution. He could be in love with someone else, but she hoped his actions around her showed that it was her that he had fallen in love with, so before she would come to a conclusion she had to test out her theory as any good CSI would do.

Looking at her alarm clock, she realized she had beaten the alarm to wakefulness. If anything would make Mac happy, it would be if she showed up to work early without her being called in. She knew she had a slight tendency to show up a little late. It would probably surprise him to see her there.

The traffic seemed lighter at this earlier time slot, and she got there ahead of her own schedule.

As she walked to his office, she checked for signs of any of her co-workers, and saw that she would have Mac to herself for a short while. She walked up to his door, and didn't notice at first anyone inside his office until she looked at his couch where he lay asleep.

'That man must have a back of rock if he can sleep on that couch all night,' she thought to herself.

Part of her thought about letting him sleep a little longer, but then she figured that this was the perfect time to put him to the test. People are vulnerable when they wake up since they don't have time to restrain any emotions, and no one was around to witness it except for her.

She sat down on the edge of the couch by his hip area, leaning over his upper body; she whispered in his ear his name. She got no reaction from him so her being who she is decided to get a little wicked.

This time she placed her lips on the spot just below his ear and purred his name. As she felt him wake slowly, she moved to sit up so he wouldn't know what she had done.

His eyes opened to look at her, and felt her heart skip a beat. They were full of…love.

Grinning down at him, she greeted him, "Good morning, Mac."

He closed his eyes again, and said, "Aren't you early?"

"I figured I would come by to give you the results of last night case before we were attacked by others."

He opened his eyes again, and she noticed the look had disappeared for his work mode expression. "So what happened to our young couple?"

"Double suicide, but at the last second they tried to run for help but it was too late."

"I'm sorry, are you all right?"

"Fine, I just wish I understood why people give up like that. Why their parents tried to keep them apart? If two people love each other, shouldn't nothing keep them apart?"

"We all have our reasons, good or bad Stella, for not allowing love to control our lives."

She looked at him and nodded realizing he was talking about himself and not the young couple. "You had your chance for love; some of us just wish we could have it in our own lives for the first time. I've got some paperwork to do on the case. Let me know if we get a new one."

Before she could get up, he grabbed her hand, "Stella?"

"Just a sad case, Mac, I'll forget about it as soon as I get a new one."

"I want nothing more than to have you have that kind of love."

"Thanks, and I've heard that love the second time around isn't that shabby either." She gave him a smile before making her way out his door.

Just before the door shut, she heard him murmur what sounded like, "I hope it is, Stella, I hope it is."

MSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMS

She got to work typing up the paperwork for their case, and sighed as she got ready to turn it in. Part of her was depressed by his reaction to the case. Here he was acting like he was falling in love but he was not ready to deal with it.

Bending down her head to look at some other paperwork that needed to be done, she missed seeing Mac enter her office. She was startled when she found Mac's face just inches from her own, and a feeling of déjà vu hit her.

"I come bearing gifts, a cup of coffee for my lady." He was smiling down at her shocked face.

"Were you looking for the paperwork? I have it ready for you to sign or do we have a new case?"

"Both, actually. I got mine done, and I was hoping you would have yours done so I can have one more thing knocked off my checklist of things to do."

"You have a checklist?"

"My mental one. Hand it over, and lets go find Flack before he decides he wants to become a CSI and solve it on his own."

"Yes, sir."

She didn't know what brought around his cheery side, but it gave her hope, and maybe she could continue her experiment.

MSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMS

'Poor Mac,' Stella thought after they got back from the crime scene. If it wasn't for the belief that it was him being in love and most likely with her, she would be extremely worried.

Once again, he had tripped over the curb, and just barely stopped himself from trying to walk through the tape since she was already holding it up. He did seem to take it much better this time.

They went off in different directions to work on the evidence, and she dropped the subject from her mind for the time being.

Having found nothing, she went in search of him hoping he was having much better luck. She saw him looking through the microscope, and took notice that there were more people around now and discretion was to be top priority. That didn't mean that 'accidents' couldn't happen.

Walking up to him, she noticed the other microscope also had a slide of evidence underneath it. She decided to take a look at that one while Mac finished with his, and if her arm brushed against his as she moved into place no one would notice. Those same people never heard his intake of breathe at the motion neither.

He straightened a few moments later, and she felt that same arm scrap against hers. 'That couldn't have been on purpose, right? Mac doesn't do those types of things.'

She straightens to look up at him and smiles. "Any luck?"

"Let's go to my office, and I'll tell you what I found."

We both reach for the folder at the same time and our hands brush, and she does the sharp intake of breathe, because that move was completely by accident.

'He's laughing at my reaction!' she thinks as he puts his hand on her back to lead her out.

The rest of the day goes this way, and she knew there was one more thing she needed to do before confronting Mac with the evidence.

She had to find witnesses to back her story up.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

"Like Someone in Love: Interviews and Interrogation" 3/3

By Rita Widmer

AN: I didn't get my 8 reviews shucks, but I did figure out this is my most favorite story by my readers ever so I'll reward that with the next part.

MSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMS

The next morning, Stella had to work their case alone since Mac was needed for another scene with Danny and Flack. He would come back to help her as soon as he was done.

Even though she was missing his presence, she realized this would provide her with some witnesses to his actions of late. She needed to make sure he wasn't acting like this at all times not just when he was in her presence.

Flack would have the best eyewitness since he was there for both sides, but first she would talk to Danny. When she heard the men coming back, she followed Danny into the trace lab.

"Danny, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Stella, what's up?"

"Have you noticed Mac acting odd lately?"

"Like how?"

"Clumsy, day dreamy, off beat."

"No sign of that this morning, I haven't worked with him much lately so I can't say. Those symptoms do sound off for him. It's almost like he's in love. Boom! If that's true, than I would like to congratulate you guys, and I won't tell anyone you are together. Don't worry, Stella, everyone supports it."

"They do?" She was stunned by his reaction.

"We've been waiting for it for a long time."

"You have?"

"Yes, Stella! Now go invite him to dinner, and tell him how you feel."

She waved at him as she left the room. Once the shock of his reaction had warned off, she found herself smiling. She worked with a bunch of detectives, they should have been able to see what Mac and she had ignored.

Later, she saw Flack enter the break room alone. She followed him in, and prepared for the interview. She would pretend she didn't already talk to Danny about it.

"Hey Flack, how did it go this morning?"

"Fine, why?" he asked.

"I was just worried about Mac and his clumsiness lately at scenes. Did he have any problems this morning?"

"Actually, no. He must have been having a couple of off days. It happens to the best of us."

"Even Mac?"

"It's unusual for him, but maybe he had something on his mind or someone."

She tried to ignore his pointed look. They headed out of the break room, and they were walking down the hallway towards Mac's office. He was coming from the opposite direction, and when he saw Stella, he trips over the stairs in front of his door.

As she heads over to make sure he is all right, she distinctly hears Flack murmur, "Yep, someone on his mind."

She ignores Flack, as she follows Mac into his office where he sits on his couch with his head in his hands.

"Did you hurt yourself?" she asks as she sits next to him.

"Just my pride." He looks at her for a few moments, his eyes questioning hers. "Stella, what's wrong with me lately?"

"I think I know, but I don't want to talk about it here. Come to my place tonight for dinner."

She can see him analyzing it in his mind, and she waits for him to answer. "All right, I will. Do you really think you have the answer?"

"Yes, Mac, I do."

"I hope so."

A hand on his shoulder gives him reassurance before getting back to work.

MSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMS

She prepared for them some Greek coffee to go with the dinner. It was the easiest solution she could find to tell him without pouring out her heart or questioning him until the truth came out. Putting it out there for him to either agree or disagree would make it easier on both of them.

She heard the knock on the door at exactly 8, and she went over to answer it with the coffee in hand.

"Come in, Mac. Here's your coffee, and go sit down on the couch."

"Greek coffee?"

"Yes, I hope you don't mind. I'm going all out Greek for dinner tonight, and you may never know, the coffee may have all your questions answered in the grounds."

"That sounds good."

They sat down on the couch drinking the coffee silently. She noticed that he drank his quite quickly. "Anxious for the fortune telling?"

She put down her cup, and reached for his overturned one. She just hoped that it would back up her story. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"It seems your heart is worried. It's trying to tell you that you have fallen in love, but your head keeps trying to deny it."

"Does it say to whom?"

She looked down at the cup one more time, before looking him in the eyes. "Yes, your best friend." His eyes wouldn't meet hers anymore so she decided to work on dinner so he could think it over. "I have to finish dinner, excuse me."

"One last thing, Mac, she loves him back." She says just before entering her kitchen.

The dinner only took a couple more minutes of preparing. "Hey Mac, come eat. Dinner is ready." As he walked into the kitchen, she could tell he was still digesting the info.

After a couple of bites, he looked at her, "She does?"

"Yes, since day one."

He went back to eating still trying to digest it all. They worked on cleaning up the table together before he took her hand and led her back to the couch.

"All of this time, you've been waiting for me?"

"It's been worth every minute, Mac. I knew when you were ready it would happen, but I have loved our friendship just as much. I just never expected that when you fell that you would do it literally."

"I wasn't this clumsy even when I fell in love with Claire. What am I going to do?"

"Correction, that's what are we going to do about it. Unless…"

"No! I may be scared out of mind, but I need you. If I'm going to continue being this clumsy I would rather do it with you by my side."

Taking that as a reassurance to do what she had wanted for years, she leaned over and kissed him on the mouth lightly. "Does that help?" she whispered against his lips.

"I think I need more evidence to make up my mind."

This time he kissed her, his hands taking hold of her curls to hold in her place. Her hands wrapped around his waist, and they were lost, but together.

As the light from the windows faded, a male and female voice could be heard whispering to each other three little words, "I love you."

The End (except for a short epilogue to follow which will be posted no later then tomorrow afternoon, reviews will make it come sooner!)


	4. Chapter 4

"Like Someone in Love: Guilty" Epilogue

By Rita Widmer

MSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMS

The morning after found Mac and Stella on their way to another crime scene, they were both a little nervous at how well they would work together now their relationship had changed. For Mac, there was still that question of how clumsy he would be today.

Mac decided to park a little further away than necessary, and went around opening the door for Stella. After checking for any observers, he kissed her softly on the lips. Holding her for a few seconds closely, he whispered in her ear, "We can do this."

"Yes we can. Let's do it."

After walking 2 blocks, they reached the crime scene, and there before them lay another curb. They went to step up onto it, and at the very same moment they tripped.

Stella looked up to see Flack rolling his eyes, and then as he figured out the cause, the biggest smirk came across that face. Turning back to her partner, she said, "I guess that answers that question. We are doomed to share a life of clumsiness together."

"I can live with that," he smiled.

"Good! Now let's get to work."

The End


End file.
